Sakura 2009

Truth be told, it wasn't that I suddenly fell in love with cherry blossoms, but the fact that this year round I received more invitations to go hanami (cherry blossoms viewing).. Maybe this is one of the benefits of staying with 2 fellow Malaysians yang very bersemangat.. ;) And considering that this shall be my last spring in Japan, I took up most of the invitations..

Due to the erratic weather this year, the cherry blossoms season stretched over 3 weeks, instead of the usual 1.. Being a "crowd-hater", I refuse to go out during weekends.. thus most of my sakura sessions were on weekdays.. :) Yet, even on weekdays, the crowd in the parks were unbelievably large.. can't imagine what it would be like during weekends.. (*shivers)

Edogawa Park 江戸川公園(2 Apr)
The main reason I went to this park was that it was near my house.. I had to pass by it every time I walk to school.. Of course, the sakura here are gorgeous too.. And also this Park shall my jogging ground for the next few months.. :)
Kaki: One (just me)
Time spent: About an hour


For more photos from Edogawabashi Park.


Dankazura, Kamakura 鎌倉(3 Apr)
Went to Kamakura because it was listed as one of the "out-of-Tokyo" places that has nice cherry blossoms.. Left the house pretty early but got caught in the mad morning rush, made worst by the unavailability of the most important train service.. Yamanote Line, serving both directions, were out of service due to "human accident", which those of us who had lived in Tokyo know meant "people jumping onto the track and got hit by the train"-kind of "incident".. :x
Kaki: Four (Aishah, Amin, Dira and me)
Time spent: About 5 hours



For more photos from Kamakura.


Shinjuku Gyoen 新宿御苑(8 Apr)
This is one of the very few parks that requires an entrance fee (¥200), and in my opinion, well-worth it.. The park prohibits alcohol and pets, so you won't see drunk salarymen behaving badly nor pets terrifying children... Maybe that was the reason why the crowd here were mostly women and families with small kids.. Of course, there was no lacking of dating/married couples and groups of friends having a good time..
Kaki: Three (Amin, Sarah and me)
Time spent: About 3 hours




Here, I witnessed my first sakura fubuki (桜吹雪), showering of falling cherry blossom petals.. it was just magical.. Here is a video clip that I took..

For more photos from Shinjuku Gyoen.


Koganei Park 小金井公園(9 Apr)
This park was listed as having the second largest number of cherry blossom trees in Tokyo.. Took us a while to find it.. The park was huge and thus even though it has 1,700 cherry blossom trees (as stated in its website), I didn't really take many photos as the scenery wasn't as beautiful as Shinjuku Gyoen.. but we had a great time there, doing silly poses and stunts that I NEVER thought I would do.. too bad I won't be posting them up here.. :p :p :p
Kaki: Four (Aishah, Amin, Sarah and me)
Time spent: About 5 hours



For more photos from Koganei Park.


And thus the end of my sakura-hunting for 2009... :)